A Hardened Warrior

These are going to be up at later times. School's starting, might be dropped to two chapters a week.

Chapter 19 - Retribution

Having slept in the crevice he’d once been in before, Roderick woke up to familiar voices.

“Yes, Applejack, I’m sure he came this way. My horn doesn’t lie.”

“Ah’m just saying, Winona cain’t find nothin’.”

“AJs right Twilight, isn’t this an ursa home?”

“Yes, I’m sure Rainbow Dash, he’s here somewhere. Besides, the ursas aren’t here anymore.”

“Yeah... but how would he know that?”

“I don’t know, but what I do know is he’s... here... really close by.”

A few faint voices were heard from behind.

“What was that?”

“What was what?”

...

“Nevermind.”

“Are ya’ll okay?”

“Just fine.”

Hearing how she phrased the sentence about him, he panicked. Looking deeper into the crevice he was in, it seemed to go even farther than he’d thought. Quietly as possible, he crept further in, but having little more than half his body size in room to work with, was quite hard.

Small clanks came from the crevice he was in, alerting the girls to his presence.

“Did y’all hear that?”

“Yeah, maybe Twilight was right...”

Without a response, Twilight began using her magic to sweep the crevice, catching Roderick’s body in it’s grasp. She yanked him out, ankle first, making his head hit multiple juts in the walls.

By the time he was all the way out, and standing again, they had surrounded him. Fury in their eyes, even Pinkie’s. After all, he had ‘assaulted’ multiple guards back in Canterlot. Including Twilight’s brother, Shining Armor.

“Roderick...”

Twilight spoke with a cold, and disgusted tone. He took a look at Twilight, she had a tiara on, and the others had necklaces.

’It seems that now would be a good time to do this...’

Roderick’s armor began to glow, raising him into the air. As the Elements charged, so did the girls. The six colored rainbow hit Roderick. An explosion of magical force sent all of them flying away from him, and knocking them unconscious. The pain for all of them was unbearable, like lighting yourself on fire, while getting hit with lightning.

Five hours after the use of the Elements, Roderick woke up. His armor shone brighter than ever before.

‘Nightmare...?’

’Indeed.’

‘Your voice...’

’Sounds much like one of a goddess, does it not?’

‘To put it simply...’

’It seems the Elements have purged me of my sister’s evil...’

‘Amazing... I feel stronger as well.’

’Without a doubt. The Elements are the purest force in this world. With a conscience such as yours, it would empower you.’

‘How would I go about using this power?’

’See that boulder over to your left?’

Turning to his left, he saw a boulder no bigger than him.

’Imagine it being held in the air.

He did just that, and the boulder... hardly moved at all. But it shook. Leaving Roderick breathless because of the amount of magic he’d just used. There was no aura, like the unicorns had. Just the boulder lifting.

’Practise with smaller stones, and improve... but for now, we have guests.’

‘What should we do with them?’

’Do you remember the broken down cart we saw on the way here?’

‘Yes.’

’Go to it, you are strong enough to balance the weight of the missing wheel.’

‘Put them in it and wheel them to the town?’

’Precisely.’

‘... Where’s my sword?’

Getting to the cart was easy enough. But it was missing it’s back left wheel, and had been half enveloped in mud. He nearly broke the thing trying to pull it out. But using his advantages, he wedged it out bit by bit, until he was able to heave it onto solid ground. A rustling noise came from behind him, but was ignored.

‘I’m lucky this thing was empty...’

’So it seems.’

‘Now to the cave...’ “ugh...”

With many groans, grunts, and pulls, he managed to get the cart back to the cave. The sun had just reached what he estimated to be three in the afternoon. His arm was aching from the weird position he was holding for so long.

He left the cart to carry the ponies to it, laying them side by side. The cart seemed to double in weight at the new additions. But he prevailed. After six more hours... they were still asleep.

‘Are they alright?’

’Yes, they’re recovering, I wouldn’t be surprised if they slept through the night as well.’

With his mind at ease, he left the cart on the outskirts of Ponyville. It was nighttime, and he encountered no one on his way there, so no one had seen him. Or so he thought.

before the search...

Twilight had just returned from Canterlot, tiara of magic in her bags. She began packing for the hunt. Once she finished, she turned to her assistant.

“Spike, I’m leaving to go help look for the human. Stay here and look after the library.”

“Why can’t I come with?”

“Because, Spike... It’s too dangerous.”

Before he could muster a response, she closed the door and ran off to meet with the others.

But Spike had other plans. As soon as Twilight was out of view of the library, he left, locked the doors, and took off to follow Twilight...

“What did he do to Twilight?!” He said in a hushed tone. He was hidden inside a bush, somehow avoiding Roderick’s attention. Watching him as he ripped the cart out of the mud. Take it back, and line up the bodies... His eyes tearing up.

He ran.